NDP seeks more 'Project Vapour' documents

TORONTO – The New Democrats are asking the province’s privacy commissioner to look into what the party believes are missing documents relating to the cancellation of two gas plants.

The Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Power Authority have released about 56,000 documents about the cancellations of the gas plant projects in Mississauga and Oakville.

The New Democrats put in a freedom of information request for documents that made reference to “Project Vapour” — a code name the Liberals used in their correspondence about the gas plants.

NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns says the premier’s office has denied the existence of any new records, and also denied the existence of some records already released.

The Liberals say it will cost taxpayers $230 million for cancelling the two energy projects, but the Tories and New Democrats say it’s at least triple that amount and was used to save Liberal seats in last fall’s election.

Tabuns says he hopes the privacy commissioner can get some answers, but he says a simpler solution would be to recall the legislature so the committee looking into the gas plants can resume its work.

“The premier’s office can’t deny the hundreds of millions they wasted on private power deals, and they can’t make inconvenient emails magically disappear,” Tabuns said.

“The people who sent us here expect government to be accountable and transparent,” he said. “Instead, they’re even trying to hide the stuff we’ve already seen.”